"Okay, Flame, I dare you to kiss Countryside."
My breath caught. I froze mid-step, heart skipping like a broken record as the words bounced off the rooftop walls. For a moment, the music, the laughter, the buzz of alcohol and hormones, all of it blurred into static.
Did I hear that right? Flame. Me.
I instantly dropped the idea of leaving then I spun around so fast I nearly crashed into a waitress carrying a tray of champagne. Glasses clinked. Someone laughed. My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear anything else.
No. No way. This had to be a joke. This wasn't real.
My eyes found him immediately.
Flame sat at the edge of the circle, long legs stretched out, a champagne flute dangling carelessly between his fingers. Those amber-gold eyes were locked on me.
That smirk curled on his lips. The usual half bored, half cruel. The one that turned desire into torture. The one I'd seen too many times in my dreams.
Flame.
The same one with wildfire in his gaze and a storm in his presence. The transfer student with the dragonblooded lineage and a reputation soaked in sin. The one everyone whispered about. Wanted. Worshipped and now, he was being dared to kiss me.
Me. Countryside.
The nickname sliced through me like a whip. That ugly brand they'd carved into my skin since the day I arrived. I wasn't Goddess to them. I was the girl from nowhere. Trash. The daughter of a drunk. A charity case. The one they got to bully.
"Ugh, Alina, how could you? You really want Countryside to humiliate herself tonight?" Nelly's voice rang out, dripping venom and Iinstantly regretted coming to the party.
Humiliate. Again.
No. I have to leave. I have to run. I took a step and then stopped abruptly. He was looking at me.
Flame.
He paused mid-sip, his stare unreadable. Then a slow smirk tugged at his mouth. His expression didn't change. Calm. Lazy. But the heat in his eyes made my skin feel too tight.
Everyone knew my story. Everyone knew his. I was the shame of the dorm. He was divinity wrapped in sin. A god in human form and in this moment, it felt like I'd been offered up for sacrifice.
The music cut off. Silence fell like a blade.
"He won't kiss her. That's for sure," someone whispered behind me.
"Why would he? She's a slut. Didn't you hear? Every guy in the dorm's had do her."
I swallowed hard against the dirty rumors. Took another step to escape but Flame stood up.
Tall. Unbothered. Deadly.
He moved toward me like a storm on legs. Slow, deliberate, impossible to look away from and I'd swear Right there that I wanted to shrink. Disappear. Run. Scream.
But I didn't move. I just Couldn't.
He stopped right in front of me. Towering. The heat from his body soaked into mine and softly, the Silence thickened. Every eye on us.
Then his hand lifted, compelling me to flinched. It landed at the back of my neck. His fingers were warm. Firm.
I shivered and somehow everything else vanished. The rooftop. The crowd. The cruel laughter. It's all Gone.There was only Flame… and me.
The last time we were this close was when I bumped into him in the hallway. He'd looked at me like I was nothing. His enemy. His prey.
He hadn't said a word. Just leaned in with that sinful smile, breathing me in and then left me trembling with shameful hunger.
I hated him for that But I'd wanted him since.
Now, his fingers curled tighter against my skin, and I wondered what was this? A joke? A dare? Another punishment?
I didn't have time to figure it out before He leaned in. The smirk in his eyes flickered, just for a second, and in that second, everything inside me cracked.
Why. In. The. Holy. Hell. Can a man be so sinfully handsome?
Red strands fell onto his face, his hair slicked back, jaw carved like sin. He looked every inch the forbidden beast no one should fall for.
I'd dreamed of this moment ever since I saw him and now, somehow, the Infinity One had granted this dark little wish.
Flame leaned forward, his lips brushing mine. A soft touch, barely there, but my whole body felt like it had been waiting for this for years. My eyes fluttered shut Then he kissed me again. Deeper.
Gradually His hand slid around my waist, pulling me closer. I gasped softly. I didn't want to stop and right there, it felt like he didn't either. No, he wanted me even more than I wanted him.
"That's… I think that's enough." Alina's voice broke through, brittle and strained.
I braced myself for Flame to pull away but he didn't. Instead, his hand trailed lower, fingers brushing the edge of my skirt. Possessive, heated then all of a sudden he paused. His body tensed and slowly, he pulled back.
I looked up just in time to see his eyes glowing faintly. He dropped his gaze and swallowed hard, staring at me as I struggled to steady my breath.
Tension snapped between us. Everyone had seen it. He'd held me longer than he was supposed to.
Why?
Just then, a honk echoed from the road below, slicing through the heavy silence. Flame turned to the balcony and looked down.
A black car had pulled up, and someone waved from the passenger seat. Behind him, I watched his shoulders tighten. He nodded.
"I'm going back to the city," he said simply. "Had fun here, but I've got to return home to my brothers."
Just like that, he grabbed his jacket and headed toward the stairs. I moved to the balcony, staring after him. I Watched him walk out of the building. Slide into the car.
In seconds, it pulled away, heading toward the grand city that birthed him and just like that, a huge hole opened in my chest.
Flame was gone. Gone back to the city. Gone back to the other five. Gone back to the Forbidden Six and I was stuck.
I am left behind in my miserable home. With my drunk and abusive father. With my struggling mother.
The light inside me, the one that had flickered just for a moment dimmed and when Flame's car vanished from view… so did my happiness.